The present invention relates to articles which absorb and/or contain bodily exudates, including disposable absorbent articles such as diapers, adult incontinence products, sanitary napkins and the like. More particularly, the invention relates to disposable absorbent articles comprising a reusable fastening device.
The major function of disposable absorbent articles such as diapers and adult incontinence briefs is to prevent body exudates from soiling, wetting, or otherwise contaminating clothing or other articles, such as bedding, that come in contact with the wearer. In recent years, disposable diapers, such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,860,003 issued to Kenneth Barclay Buell on Jan. 14, 1975, have become very popular with the public and have generally replaced durable cloth absorbent articles because of their convenience and reliability.
Such disposable absorbent articles are worn about the lower torso of the wearer to be registered with the urethra and the anus of the wearer during use. Usually, the absorbent article being of generally rectangular shape (some have notches cut out along the sides to accommodate the legs of the wearer) is affixed around the lower torso of the wearer by a fastening system that joins the front waist end of the absorbent article to the rear waist end of the absorbent article. Such fastening systems generally comprise a first end member joined to the front waist end of the absorbent article and a second end member joined to the rear waist end of the absorbent article, and a suspension member connecting the first end member with the second end member.
Typically, such fastening systems are permanently attached to the back waist region of the absorbent article and are releasably attachable to the front waist region of the absorbent article. The releasable attachment can be achieved by hooks, buttons, press studs, adhesive tapes, mechanical fastening such as hook and loop type mechanical fastening, or the like.
However, despite the effectiveness of such fastening systems, due to their permanent attachment to the absorbent article they have to be disposed of together with the article once the absorbent article is either saturated or soiled with body exudates such as urine and feces.
Disposable absorbent articles of the prior art such those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,315,508 issued to Bolick and in U.S. Pat. No. 5,669,901 issued to LaFortune, have addressed this problem by comprising a fastening systems that is releasably attachable to the front waist end and to the back waist end.
However, these fastening system still have to be disposed of entirely even if only a small part of it such as one end member has been soiled.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide an disposable absorbent article comprising a reusable fastening system that can be separated into its individual components. Thus, only those components which have been soiled have to be disposed of, all other components may be reused.
The present invention is a disposable absorbent article having a first waist region and a second waist region, comprising a topsheet, a backsheet at least partially peripherally joined to said topsheet, an absorbent means positioned intermediate said topsheet and said backsheet, and a reusable fastening device. The reusable fastening device comprises a first end member, a second end member, and a suspension member. The first end member of the reusable fastening device is releasably engageable the first waist region and releasably engageable with the suspension member. The second end member of the reusable fastening device is releasably engageable with the second waist region and releasably engageable with the suspension member.